Friday, February 24, 2017

The Spirit Of Christ (LG35)


LG35    The Spirit Of The Christ

‘Last Generation’
Jer 36:26-27 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
    In the OT, the Spirit of God or the Holy Spirit was given to the Jews for anointing, empowering, gifts, seal of salvation, etc. Even the empowering of the Holy Spirit was not good enough to help his people (Jews) repent and overcome their weaknesses and wickedness.

So in this new covenant, on top of the Holy Spirit for salvation and  empowering, God will also give His people ‘a new Spirit’ so that we can walk in His statutes and keep His judgments to do them.

The new Spirit will cause us

1. to walk in His statues
John 5:19-20 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.”
    Whatever our Lord Jesus saw or heard from the Father, He will completely obey them, i.e His words, will, teachings, works, etc.

2. to keep His judgment
John 5:30 “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.”
    Our Lord Jesus judged according to His judgment. When we obey His will, our judgments will always be righteous, but if we follow our own will that is normally selfish, worldly and carnal, our judgments will be partial and unacceptable.
Rom 8:9-11 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
     Christ came in the flesh and suffered death at the cross. Having overcame death, the Spirit of Christ resurrected Him, so that all those with the Spirit of Christ will be able to overcome all trials, temptations, sufferings by the crucifixion of their flesh.

2 John 1:9 Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.
    When we do the will of God, we will be able to boldly judge doctrines, sins, abominable practices, with His righteous judgments.

1 Cor 2:15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.
    Just like our Lord Jesus, all those baptized with the Spirit of Christ must be bold enough to judge and expose the wickedness, covetousness and lies of church leaders and the wrong doctrines and heresies of those so-called great men of God, which are destroying the faith of Christians.

Brethren, God gives us this ‘New Spirit’, the Spirit of Christ or the Spirit of truth to strengthen and help Christians, for this last generation is comparable to the wickedness of that of the deluge during Noah’s time. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Gen 6:5)